openstates-mcp-server

Search Events

openstates_search_events

Read-onlyIdempotent

Search hearings, floor sessions, and committee meetings. jurisdiction is required — the Open States events endpoint has no all-states search, so scope every call to a single state; use openstates_list_jurisdictions to pick one. Experimental — most states do not publish event data to Open States. Use after and before to scope to a date range. Set require_bills=true to filter to events with bills on the agenda, which is the most useful filter for tracking legislation through committee. Use include=agenda,participants for full meeting context. Empty results from an unfiltered search often indicate the state lacks event data rather than no events occurring.

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description
`page`	No	Page number (1-indexed).
`after`	No	ISO 8601 datetime — events starting after this time. Use to find upcoming hearings.
`before`	No	ISO 8601 datetime — events starting before this time.
`include`	No	Related data to inline. "agenda" includes the meeting agenda with bill references. "participants" includes the committee or chamber hosting the event. "links" and "media" add related URLs and recordings, "documents" the attached files, and "sources" the provenance URLs behind the record.
`per_page`	No	Results per page. Maximum 20.
`jurisdiction`	Yes	State name, abbreviation, or OCD-ID. Required — the Open States events endpoint has no all-states search, so every call must be scoped to a single jurisdiction.
`require_bills`	No	When true, only return events with at least one bill on the agenda. Most useful for tracking legislation through committee.

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description
`page`	No	Current page returned.
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`notice`	No	Recovery hint when results are empty. Absent when results are returned.
`maxPage`	No	Total pages available.
`results`	No	Events matching the search criteria.
`pagination`	No	Pagination metadata.
`totalCount`	No	Total events matching the query across all pages.
`coverageNote`	No	Event data is experimental — most states do not publish event data to Open States. Empty results may indicate the state lacks data, not that no events occurred.
`appliedFilters`	No	Filters applied to this query as the server received them, for agent self-verification of zero or unexpected results.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed17 schema fields changedOct 28, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / description

Previous value: -"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `upstream_timeout`: Open States did not answer within the per-request timeout — the query is too broad. `invalid_page`: Open States rejected the request as not found — page is past the last page for this query. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."New value: +"Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `upstream_timeout`: Open States did not answer within the per-request timeout — the query is too broad. `invalid_page`: Open States rejected the request as not found — page is past the last page for this query. `rate_limited`: The shared Open States API key reached a request cap — Open States' per-minute or daily limit, or this server's own daily budget. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler."

changedOutput schema / properties / error / properties / data / properties / reason / examples

Previous value: -[
-  "upstream_timeout",
-  "invalid_page"
-]New value: +[
+  "upstream_timeout",
+  "invalid_page",
+  "rate_limited"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / description

Previous value: -"Document links when include=documents is requested."New value: +"Attached documents when include=documents is requested."

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / description
```
Previous value: -"Document link record."New value: +"Document record."
```

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / properties / classification

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Document classification. Empty string when Open States recorded none.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / properties / date

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Document date. Empty string when Open States recorded no date.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / properties / links

Added value: +{
+  "description": "URLs for this document record — usually one, occasionally none.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "One URL for this document record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "note": {
+        "description": "Link description. Absent when Open States recorded none.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "description": "Document URL.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "url"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / properties / url
```
Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Document URL.",
-  "type": "string"
-}
```

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / required

Previous value: -[
-  "url",
-  "note"
-]New value: +[
+  "note",
+  "date",
+  "classification",
+  "links"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / description

Previous value: -"Media links when include=media is requested."New value: +"Recordings and other media when include=media is requested."

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / description
```
Previous value: -"Media link record."New value: +"Media record."
```

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / properties / classification

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Media classification. Empty string when Open States recorded none.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / properties / date

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Media date. Empty string when Open States recorded no date.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / properties / links

Added value: +{
+  "description": "URLs for this media record — usually one, occasionally none.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "One URL for this media record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "note": {
+        "description": "Link description. Absent when Open States recorded none.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "description": "Media URL.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "url"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / properties / offset

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Start offset into the recording as Open States recorded it. Absent when not recorded.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / properties / url
```
Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Media URL.",
-  "type": "string"
-}
```

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / required

Previous value: -[
-  "url",
-  "note"
-]New value: +[
+  "note",
+  "date",
+  "classification",
+  "links"
+]

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 25, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedOutput schema / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "results",
+      "pagination",
+      "totalCount",
+      "page",
+      "maxPage",
+      "coverageNote",
+      "appliedFilters"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / error

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `upstream_timeout`: Open States did not answer within the per-request timeout — the query is too broad. `invalid_page`: Open States rejected the request as not found — page is past the last page for this query. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "upstream_timeout",
+            "invalid_page"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "results",
-  "pagination",
-  "totalCount",
-  "page",
-  "maxPage",
-  "coverageNote",
-  "appliedFilters"
-]

Changed4 schema fields changedJul 31, 2026
- changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents / items / properties / note / description
```
Previous value: -"Document description."New value: +"Document description. Empty string when Open States recorded no description."
```
- changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / links / items / properties / note / description
```
Previous value: -"Link description."New value: +"Link description. Empty string when Open States recorded no description."
```
- changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media / items / properties / note / description
```
Previous value: -"Media description."New value: +"Media description. Empty string when Open States recorded no description."
```
- changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / sources / items / properties / note / description
```
Previous value: -"Source note."New value: +"Source note. Empty string when Open States recorded no note."
```

Changed3 schema fields changedJul 31, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / jurisdiction / description

Previous value: -"State name, abbreviation, or OCD-ID. Required — the Open States events endpoint has no all-states search and rejects requests that omit it."New value: +"State name, abbreviation, or OCD-ID. Required — the Open States events endpoint has no all-states search, so every call must be scoped to a single jurisdiction."

addedInput schema / properties / jurisdiction / minLength
```
Added value: +1
```
addedInput schema / required
```
Added value: +[
+  "jurisdiction"
+]
```

Changed7 schema fields changedJul 16, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / include / description

Previous value: -"Related data to inline. \"agenda\" includes the meeting agenda with bill references. \"participants\" includes the committee or chamber hosting the event."New value: +"Related data to inline. \"agenda\" includes the meeting agenda with bill references. \"participants\" includes the committee or chamber hosting the event. \"links\" and \"media\" add related URLs and recordings, \"documents\" the attached files, and \"sources\" the provenance URLs behind the record."

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / documents

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Document links when include=documents is requested.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "Document link record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "note": {
+        "description": "Document description.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "description": "Document URL.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "url",
+      "note"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / links

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Event links when include=links is requested.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "External link record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "note": {
+        "description": "Link description.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "description": "Link URL.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "url",
+      "note"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / media

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Media links when include=media is requested.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "Media link record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "note": {
+        "description": "Media description.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "description": "Media URL.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "url",
+      "note"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / participants / items / properties / role / description
```
Previous value: -"Participant role."New value: +"Participant role. Absent when upstream omits it."
```

changedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / participants / items / required

Previous value: -[
-  "name",
-  "entity_type",
-  "role"
-]New value: +[
+  "name",
+  "entity_type"
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / results / items / properties / sources

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Provenance sources when include=sources is requested.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "Source record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "note": {
+        "description": "Source note.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "url": {
+        "description": "Source URL.",
+        "type": "string"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "url",
+      "note"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedJul 16, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / jurisdiction / description

Previous value: -"State name, abbreviation, or OCD-ID. Omitting searches across all states."New value: +"State name, abbreviation, or OCD-ID. Required — the Open States events endpoint has no all-states search and rejects requests that omit it."

Changed4 schema fields changedJun 22, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / after / pattern

Added value: +"^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}(T[\\d:.Z+-]+)?$"

addedInput schema / properties / before / pattern

Added value: +"^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}(T[\\d:.Z+-]+)?$"

addedOutput schema / properties / appliedFilters

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "description": "Filters applied to this query as the server received them, for agent self-verification of zero or unexpected results.",
+  "properties": {
+    "after": {
+      "description": "after datetime filter as received.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "before": {
+      "description": "before datetime filter as received.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "jurisdiction": {
+      "description": "Jurisdiction filter as received.",
+      "type": "string"
+    },
+    "page": {
+      "description": "Page number requested.",
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "per_page": {
+      "description": "Results per page requested.",
+      "type": "number"
+    },
+    "require_bills": {
+      "description": "require_bills flag as received.",
+      "type": "boolean"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "require_bills",
+    "page",
+    "per_page"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "results",
-  "pagination",
-  "totalCount",
-  "page",
-  "maxPage",
-  "coverageNote"
-]New value: +[
+  "results",
+  "pagination",
+  "totalCount",
+  "page",
+  "maxPage",
+  "coverageNote",
+  "appliedFilters"
+]

Changed3 schema fields changedJun 13, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / totalCount

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total events matching the query across all pages.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / totalItems

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Total events matching the query across all pages.",
-  "type": "number"
-}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "results",
-  "pagination",
-  "totalItems",
-  "page",
-  "maxPage",
-  "coverageNote"
-]New value: +[
+  "results",
+  "pagination",
+  "totalCount",
+  "page",
+  "maxPage",
+  "coverageNote"
+]

Changed8 schema fields changedMay 30, 2026

addedOutput schema / properties / coverageNote

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Event data is experimental — most states do not publish event data to Open States. Empty results may indicate the state lacks data, not that no events occurred.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / coverage_note

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Event data is experimental — most states do not publish event data to Open States. Empty results may indicate the state lacks data, not that no events occurred.",
-  "type": "string"
-}

addedOutput schema / properties / maxPage

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total pages available.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

removedOutput schema / properties / message

Removed value: -{
-  "description": "Recovery hint when results are empty. Absent when results are returned.",
-  "type": "string"
-}

addedOutput schema / properties / notice

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Recovery hint when results are empty. Absent when results are returned.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / page

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Current page returned.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / totalItems

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Total events matching the query across all pages.",
+  "type": "number"
+}

changedOutput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "results",
-  "pagination",
-  "coverage_note"
-]New value: +[
+  "results",
+  "pagination",
+  "totalItems",
+  "page",
+  "maxPage",
+  "coverageNote"
+]

First observedMay 25, 2026

TDQS

A4.9/5.0

Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly/idempotent/openWorld, so safety is covered; the description goes further by disclosing that the endpoint is experimental, that most states lack event coverage, and that empty results are ambiguous rather than informative. That false-negative warning is exactly the kind of context annotations cannot carry.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The hard constraint (jurisdiction required, no all-states search) is front-loaded before the caveats and filter tips. Five sentences, each contributing a distinct decision-relevant fact, with no restatement of the name or title.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

Seven parameters, all documented at 100% schema coverage, an output schema present, and annotations covering the safety profile. The description fills the remaining gaps — jurisdiction scoping, data-availability caveats, filter recommendations — so nothing an agent needs to call this correctly is missing.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100%, so the baseline is 3; the description adds practical guidance beyond the schema by calling require_bills the most useful filter for committee tracking and by recommending the agenda,participants include combination rather than listing options neutrally. It does not add format or syntax detail, but the schema already handles that.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

Opens with a specific verb and three concrete resource types (hearings, floor sessions, committee meetings), immediately distinguishing it from openstates_search_bills and openstates_search_committees. An agent knows exactly what corpus this queries without opening the schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explicitly states the mandatory scoping constraint, names openstates_list_jurisdictions as the way to obtain a jurisdiction value, and recommends require_bills=true and include=agenda,participants for the legislative-tracking use case. It even pre-empts a failure mode: empty unfiltered results often mean the state publishes no event data.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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Search Events

Input Schema

Output Schema

Schema Changelog

TDQS

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